He takes over in October from Stuart Robinson who is retiring as regional director of the St Albans-based south east team.

Harding, 43, began working for BAM as an engineer in the early 1990s.

His first job as a project manager was the Manor Road Building for the University of Oxford, and his last job on site was at the £107m Network Rail offices in Milton Keynes.

In 2010, he was recognised as a rising star when he became a gold medal winner at the national Construction Manager of the Year Awards for his work at West Herts College, Watford.

“When I started as a chain boy working on a Tesco store in Osterley, the industry was in a recession and employment opportunities were scarce. Now we’ve emerged into a rising market and there is young talent and the business has exciting opportunities.

“The person who can challenge the design and procurement of a major project because they understand it properly and know how to build it is gold dust to this business.

“The future is a combination of utilising this experience with the technology and fresh ideas from young people, and fusing these together,” he said:

BAM’s South East team works in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire, plus some areas of Greater London. BAM has a separate team in central London.